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This year I read 63 murder mysteries, including selections from the following series and a few standalone: Another 10 books I read this year that are not murder mysteries: See My Year in Books for links. A few books I started and liked but did not finish yet: Update 1/4/2026: While murder is all fine […]
It has been almost a year since I restarted this blog, so it’s high time for another Christmas ornament post. I wanted to showcase some of my most precious dough ornaments, which I understand to have been shaped from a salt dough, baked and sealed with a clear acrylic. This seems more accessible to a […]
I have a vast collection of earrings. Some are vintage, others were gifts; some I made, and many I bought in my travels. They are some of my favorite accessories, along with purses. The earrings above were acquired at the Japanese Garden in Jardin botanique de Montréal (black drops with plum blossoms), the SoWa Art […]
Some of my favorite items to collect at secondhand shops are buttons. When I look back, I have been collecting them for decades. I love to sort them and display them, even if I don’t always find a “use” or way to wear them. The button cards featured above are from a trip to Brooklyn […]
April has been mild and I have been enjoying the beautiful city of Chicago. I have never regretted moving to this city at the end of 1996. I was not made for small town life. Give me the sights, sounds and strangers of a world-class metropolis! In 2009 we moved to the suburbs, and I […]
I have been using the plant identification app PictureThis since 2020. It’s great when I can’t remember what I planted in that corner of the garden, or I’m on a garden walk and want to identify something I might want to purchase later. I know that Google lens is pretty accurate, but I appreciate some […]
Before we even had our own record player, Aimee and I were Monkees fans. I remember my mom going into the utility room one day and coming out with one of her old records, More of the Monkees. We brought it to our friend Kelly’s house and used to play it every day, acting out […]
My first camera was a 126 pocket camera, probably Kodak, that took square photos. I think my mom passed it to me when she got her first 35mm camera, but by the mid-80s I was using her camera. I took this photo when our extended family went camping at Lake Glendale in Southern Illinois. From […]
I have collected embroidery for many decades. I remember shopping for vintage embroidered pillow cases with my mom, and I even tried embroidering my own with cross-stitch once. I do still have some embroidered linens, but my preference is for embroidered wall art. Since I was writing this post I moved a cross-stitch made by […]
Tonight Jim and I were able to attend an event hosted by Exile in Bookville with musician Neko Case for her memoir, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You. Neko is one of our favorite musicians. I saw her perform starting in the late 90s, memorably outside of Schuba’s where I first heard […]