Review: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book may be my favorite of all the Outlanders. Maybe because of how I chose to read it nearly 24/7. After all, I had reached the skinny-mini underbelly of all streamings–teen or young people who look like Barbie Dolls going through the samo-samo life issues. Give me some older adults, women of all shapes and colors, real people, not Hollywood-mothers, whores, or weaklings. Not enough streaming of strong women holding up half the world. So back to reading the only way I could. Audible.

Also, I was making scrubbies and washcloths while listening. That helped me ‘hear’ better.

By constant reading, I could stay in the story better. And family members came and listened with me on occasion. So it wasn’t a lonely process.

At any rate, I loved watching the cast of the characters struggle with life and time travel issues and historical moments. I especially loved the parts about Brianna and Roger at Lallybroch recovering letters from Claire and Jamie. And though I used to find Willy obnoxious, I think I clicked with him this time. And I grew more in love with John Grey. How nice to see good, honest, quality men portrayed.

I tried to find something else to read last night as my bedtime read but couldn’t resist looking for more Outlander. Now I am listening to book 8, Written In My Own Heart’s Blood.

Time to lower my reading goal as I seem stuck in tome reading. I love it! I hope you get the chance to read these. Oh, and Davina Porter does so many voices so well. I still wish for more actual actors for sometimes Bri and Claire sound the same, and all the children sound the same, and Roger, even with his sore throat, sounds like other men. Still, for one person covering so many people, Davina is fantastic!

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Look At The Time! #WDIIA, #WTIIA

11:05 barely 55 minutes left to get this up and still get credit. So another short one that may seem like another boring repeat of the last few days. Because, Yes, I finished yet another scrubby and washcloth. And I finished book 7 of Outlander.

I think that amounts to 6 clothes and 6 scrubbies. I’m selfishly thinking I will keep the two laying out of the stacks for my own. I still have a bit of the yellow scrubby yarn left so I may make another one or two, just to keep on hand should I want to give a couple to the Hugger Hats charity.

The Outlander book was very good. I do look forward to more in the series, as I feel there is more out there. I will write the review tomorrow when I am more awake.

Oh, it was Monday. I know because it was Easy Writers Zoom meet. I had to tell them that the dog ate my homework as I hadn’t written anything about the prompts. That didn’t mean I didn’t like them. One being, have a discussion with your guardian angel, the other a letter to someone in gratitude. Since part of what I have been doing has to do with writing to friends the second one will be done multiple ways. I may or may not share when finished as I don’t know how private I will make each letter. If I feel I can and keep the recipient’s identity hidden, it might be fun to share. Stay tuned to see if I have the guts or creative energy to pull it off. I know I’m waiting with bated breath!

What do I read now? I think I am going to go through reading withdrawal. I have tens of thousands of books waiting for me. But after two very good but huge books, I worry that I can’t top that!

As of Sunday, the weather has gone back to early spring. Lots of wind and cool. This week we may have a night that is in the upper thirties. Not freezing but Brrrr!

I don’t often include this but our county now has 15 or 16 COVID19 cases. I know to most of you that may seem a small number, but since our tiny town has barely over one thousand people, and we certainly don’t have the population of other towns in the county, I wonder how many might actually be here now.  There are things we need that our little community can’t give us. No DMV, etc. And I would love to take care of some of the things around the house and yard but need the big stores. But if our little county is having that rise, I know the bigger towns are worse.

Do you ever go through your day and think of doing something you used to do without even thinking about it and realize, nope. that can’t happen. Like a lightning bolt goes through your head that, oh, yeah, things aren’t like that anymore. For a couple of months, we could hold the thoughts of ‘be careful,’ ‘wash your hands,’ etc. But suddenly the brain can’t hold those thoughts together with the old way that wants back out to play. I guess that is why I do understand the maskless party-goers. But the thing is the adult within tamps down on all that as you look around at those you love and know in your heart that you don’t want to be a part of making the ERs and medical teams demise as they might not be there when the loved one needs them. Our brains can hold all of that at one time. Maybe a toddler can’t. But adults can. (Sorry for the run-on rant.)

Anyway, it is getting late and I need to go rest my brain. And find something to read before going to sleep.

I hope you are all doing well. Take the time to yell into your pillow the frustration of being an adult and fluff that pillow and realize it is also a good place to dream

Where Did Sunday Go?

I remember watching Sunday Morning. Then the day is a blur of finishing two more scrubbies and one more scrubbing washcloths. I have listened to Outlander 7 (An Echo in the Bone). It may well be my favorite and I don’t want to stop. So this is me, checking in to say ‘Hi’ and hope you are all doing well.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Here’s how it stands at the end of the day.

Washcloth and scrubby before bed last night.

Tonight at sunset

I had this stack:

The count is four scrubby washcloths and two finished round scrubbers. The one beside the blue loom just needs the handle and strings wove in. Then by tomorrow or even before bed tonight the one on the loom will be finished. The little scrubbers as fast. And they are for face or skin. It helps with exfoliating.

I was feeling a little celebratory and wanted to lift a cup, so I added one.

Green tea is one of my favorites for any time of the day. I start with coffee, but only because since the shutdown our little stores here don’t carry Earl Grey. I miss that so much.

And about the time I was to take a sip I looked out and saw this:

It occurs to me that the reason I bought the colors of the scrubby yarn is sunset skies.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “coffee, tea, or me.” Find a flirty phrase of your own or use “coffee, tea, or me” in your post. Have fun!

I think I covered it, coffee, tea, and a little o’ me.

Okay, I don’t have that many. Top left looks like Teddy, to the right looks like Panda who passed about a decade ago. In his place should be a pure black, Rosey. The next shelf looks like my Kimberlina (Kimmie) who passed about 15 years ago. In my arms are the strays. The orange one was here when we moved here. We called her Jasmine but she disappeared a few months ago. The one in my left is the newer stray kitten we call Smokey. I hope we can dig up the money to have all the current ones to the vet for check-ups. I’d love to have Smokey inside once it gets cold again.

Review: The Stand by Stephen King

The Stand by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Why am I finding myself reading/listening to such long books lately? Maybe because I don’t have to carry them around? Maybe because at least something in my life feels secure and always there? I don’t know. But this fits that bill. I will once again have to lower my reading goal to accommodate this new penchant of mine.

What a fun book! I wish I would have read it before I ever watched, much less owned, the DVD series. I saw Molly Ringwold and the rest of the cast playing in my mind as I listened. But for the most part, that didn’t interfere with the character development. Except for Harold. But I guess back when the show filmed it would have been hard to put a minor character actor through the process of losing a lot of weight while dealing with the travel with his team. I hope the new one gives us a more true-to-book Harold.

Grover Gardner, the narrator of this book, should be given all the awards he has. He was able to portray most of the characters that kept them separated in my mind as we went along. I didn’t feel the aversion of the female characters in the way I often do with male narrators. There is usually a feeling the male is making fun of the female. I do think we should just start hiring both male and female, and possibly children actors for the appropriate characters. But that is my own opinion of that.

What was fun for me was I had the book reading to me in the living room. My husband or my son, or brother would walk in and start listening with me. They all seemed to enjoy it from the point I was listening to when they felt the need to find other tasks for their day. My son became most involved. He’s in his forties and is well acquainted with the show—an excellent way to bond with others.

I read The Dome quite a while ago and King’s book about writing. Both books were fantastic, and I think by the end of The Stand, I have to admit to becoming a fan. I love how he keeps the reader involved. He makes you feel you are in the story almost always.

Some parts of the story involved a bit of the Bible and brought in demons and prophets. It felt right for the time it was written, but I wonder if we needed that. I believe that the good and evil, and I don’t think that is our position to judge who is or isn’t, will die or live, not accordingly but just chance or biological, genetic predispositions. I think that a person might have some bad luck shouldn’t make them drawn to the demon. I don’t quite know how to say that. It is worth the thought process the book takes you through, but I wonder if it could be without the demon? I think caring people might flock into teams, and those who are just looking for advantage regardless of others’ needs might find themselves in a herd situation. But again, it played out as King’s story and not offensive.

As I got into the story from the first chapter, I found King’s research quite evident. Had everyone read The Stand, we might have been more ready for our own Captain Trips. A cautionary tale all should read and glean what they can. It seems like a book two could help us figure out the next steps.

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What Day Is It Anyway? Thursday, I Think.

But who can tell? I just did more scrubbies.

To prove my point I made a couple of days ago, I crocheted a scrubby.

It was the pattern on the scrubby yarn label. To learn more about the yarn I followed this YouTube:

Yes, I did crochet it quicker than I could loom knit but by the end of the project my left hand hurt so badly that I thought I would cry. This is the hand that was holding the yarn and gives the tension. And the scrubby is tighter on the end as I finished. The hook hand was fine. I do miss crocheting.

Then I made one more loom knit scrubby, just cause I could. I think I am addicted! Is there a SA 12 step program? I think when the yarn is gone I will go back to the socks I’m nearly finished with.

Here’s the latest

Just in case here’s the tutorial for this one:

 

Okay, the trash is out so I know it is Thursday. That answers the #WDIIA question. I promise to have other things to blog about in the next three days. I have other things to talk about.

Washcloth Wednesday

Second Try

I used the same pattern as I did before but used the larger gauge Knifty Knitter 24-peg loom. It was much easier on my hands and I think the scrubby itself is easier to handle. I think I am going to gift this one.

Just in case, here is the tutorial again.

I don’t know if this counts as a One-Liner Wednesdaybut let’s go check out Linda’s site for the fun prompt anyway.

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com

 

Toe-Ups Past Heels

I’m going to call this pair of socks, Stand socks. That is because I have been listening to the audio-library copy of The Stand.

We are at 91% in the book. I say ‘we’ because off and on either my husband or my son were sitting in on the listening. Now we can’t wait to finish so we can watch the newer version which is supposed to be on CBS All Access. I think we have that.

Without further ado, I’m going back to the story.

That pipe is for the thought bubbles. LOL!

Lookie What I Did!

A Scrubby!

I used 32 pegs of a KB Hers of a His and Hers Sock kit. The yarn is Scrubby Cotton. And it hurts and is hard to purl with. Since the pattern calls for one-row knit and one-row purl. that second row of each part of the garter stitch took me forever! And it hurt from pulling and pushing the little texture knots through the former stitch. The knit rows were easy-peasy. This took me a day and a half. Partly because I had to frog it due to the first loom, the wood with metal pegs sock loom, I think it is a KB also. I tried to pull the stitches onto a circular needle but the loom crunched apart in my hands so I just frogged the project. My brother was able to fix the broken loom back to new. But meanwhile, I just grabbed the Hers loom and started again.

If I had attempted this pattern by crocheting I think it would have been finished in an hour. Maybe it was the yarn and I should try it with the yarn recommended in Kristen’s tutorial. I think I’ll go order some of that when I get finished with this report. Here’s the Youtube tutorial again. I know! You watch this while I do a dish or two so I can report how it does its job.

Did you enjoy it? Yeah. I know. I was on my own doing those dishes. Oh, well. Oh, yeah. The dishrag easily did the job my scrubby sponge could. So there’s that. By the way, GoodKnitKisses has a left-handed tutorial, too.

I still have my craft project taking up the whole coffee table. Oh well, I think the family is used to me. They all have places to call their own. I lost my hobby room when my son moved in. So if anyone has a complaint… No one does. They are pretty mellow guys with their own hobbies so…

Speaking of guys, As of today, I have been married to this terrific man for 17 years. We’ve been together as of the fourth of July 25 years. Go us!!!

Oh, and it was a Monday because the Easy Writers group Zoomed. I do enjoy getting with this group of ladies. Each seems to have unique personalities and styles. Anyway, that answers the What Day Is It Anyway question. #WDIIA

Happy Monday

and

 

Sunday Is the Answer

Hey, look. I’m here at nine and the computer is working properly. I don’t know why it gets so glitchy the closer to midnight it gets.

Most of the day I listened to the audio of The Stand. It is interesting to see the story in depth. The characters still remain the ones on the older series. Molly Ringwold, etc. I do understand the crazier ones through the book. Yet I am only at 68%. Five more days until it is due to go back to the library.

Meanwhile, I’m following this tutorial to make myself some scrubby washrags.

 

No, I haven’t received my flex-skinny yet. I’m using my old broken Hers of the KB His Hers sock loom. I like how they feel in my hands. I’m working on two other pairs of socks, two hats, and a couple toys. I do what hurts my hands least.

I still haven’t gotten my crafty things done or the socks to my daughter and her beau.

Oh, before I started reading my hubby and I watch Ad Astra. I think I would have liked the book better. Another sci-fi for the guys.

Still, it was fun to watch it together.

It was a gorgeous day here. Just right. Just enough breeze to ripple the flag. Kali and I enjoyed ‘outside’ just standing or sitting and feeling free.

CBS Sunday Morning was touching. As was the UU Zoom meeting. I’m rather sad that Sunday is nearly over.

Wow! Look at that! A whole blog without the frustration of my computer being slower than snail mail!

I hope you all had a good day. Find your quiet zen moments if you can. And