Yvonne
Hi everyone! I hope that you are all enjoying a great weekend.
After the promise of some very wet and stormy conditions on Saturday, apart from a short downpour very early on in the morning, the day down here in the South of the UK,was fine, dry, sunny and very warm. It looks set fair for Sunday also, although it is a little on the breezy side this morning.
I haven’t written a ‘Sunday Salon’ post for many months, however as my posting in general has been very sporadic and infrequent over the past few weeks, I thought I would publish a catch up post, just to let you know what is happening in my ‘neck of the woods’.
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THIS WEEK’S BOOKISH TALK
I have the last few pages to read, of an intriguing suspense thriller …
‘THROUGH A YELLOW WOOD’ by CAROLYN J. ROSE
Seven months after cheating death in the dark waters of Hemlock Lake, Dan Stone discovers a search dog trainer and his dogs shot down at a remote cabin in the Catskill Mountains. Only one young dog, badly wounded, survives the attack.
No longer wearing a badge and intent on rebuilding the family home and making a life with Camille, Dan feels an obligation of blood to Clarence Wolven, a distant relative. He arranges the funeral and adopts the three-legged dog he names Nelson.
When the sheriff’s investigation stalls, Dan returns to the cabin with Jefferson Longyear. They feel the presence of Clarence’s angry ghost and Nelson bolts into the forest. Trailing him deep into rugged “forever wild” land, they discover a serial killer’s dump site.
That grisly find is just the first. As summer wears on, Dan suspects the killer is taunting him and may even be someone he knows. Goaded by a ghost he only half believes in, Dan is drawn deeper into the investigation until his life and that of a young girl depend on a dog’s loyalty and a sniper’s aim.
(This is the sequel to Hemlock Lake.)
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I have my next book all lined up and ready to go …
‘BURIED A MAN I HATED THERE‘ by ADAM PEPPER
Delusions drive them. Deceptions define them. Secrets consume them. BURIED A MAN I HATED THERE: A dark and unusual psychological thriller.
Jack Maddox is distraught after the mysterious deaths of his wife and young daughter. His head constantly aches and his memories are hazy and lost.
Heidi, his wife’s twin sister, does her best to help Jack cope. Ever reliable and dutiful, she encourages Jack to move on with his life.
Each Valentine’s Day, they meet in a field in rural Vermont for a picnic in the snow.
Jack has a secret that’s buried deep. Heidi has a secret of her own. Will they unravel their secrets, or will their secrets unravel them?
Salvation lies hidden in the snow, and in each other.
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I have almost completed my next review …
‘MAGS AND THE AARP GANG’ by NANCY LYNN JARVIS
Mags and her gang of renegade octogenarians have a deadline. They have to rob Bayside Community Bank, the bank about to foreclose on the mobile home park where they live, by a week from Friday so they can pay off the mortgage and save their homes. They’ve cased the joint, planned carefully, assembled their disguises, rehearsed their every move — what could possibly go wrong? Plenty.
Some people think they can take advantage of the elderly. They haven’t met Mags and the AARP gang or they’d know better. Sure, they’re older, but not too old for the adventure of a lifetime or to risk everything for the sake of friendship.
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THIS WEEK’S PUZZLING TALK
This jigsaw puzzle was a bargain price find at just £3, purchased from the charity shop where I volunteer and which supports our local hospice. It seeems to have taken me an age to finish, but to be fair, I have only worked on it in very short bursts and quite infrequently.
FALCON DE LUXE JUMBO 1,000 PIECES
‘FOOD and BEVERAGES’
Part of the ‘Days Gone By’ range featuring beautiful and nostalgic images. This builds into a delightful montage of charming old food and drink adverts. This puzzle is made using Jumbo’s new DCM cutting technology for a high quality finish and with pieces that interlock extremely cleanly.
I had fully intended to post a review of the completed jigsaw, however it wasn’t until I sought to include the picture Amazon link, I discovered that, despite the excellent condition of both the puzzle pieces and its box, this was an item long ago discontinued from the Falcon Jumbo catalogue and no copies of it were left for sale at all.
The apparent age of the puzzle probably also answers the only criticism I was going to make about it, in that there is only the small amount of text as quoted above, which offers scant information about the origins of the brands and images used. On more modern jigsaws of this type, a comprehensive ‘synopsis’ is almost an integral part of the overall experience. Still, when all is said and done, at the price, I really have little cause for complaint. The finished jigsaw looks good and it was definitely a fun filled challenge to complete!
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THIS WEEK’S GENERAL CHIT-CHAT
Not an eventful week to report from Fiction Books.
Apart from the multiple aches and pains, which seem to develop unwanted and in abundance, when you reach a certain age, much of my week has been taken up with my voluntary charity work, for our local hospice shop. Despite the many reports and publications to the contrary, thankfully printed books still seem to form quite a substantial part of our incoming donations, so there is always plenty for me to do and book sales have been making steady progress and contribution to the shop takings. Some of the ladies I work with can be seen in the centre picture, however I am pleased to say that my own face is not amongst them.
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Family members who live about 40 miles North of us, had planned a ‘garden party’ and 30th Birthday celebration for Saturday afternoon. Everyone was unsure whether the event would be able to go ahead, because of the severe weather warnings being issued, however a dramatic and suddenly improving picture, allowed plans to proceed pretty much as organised, although by this time, the expected barbeque had become a finger buffet of gigantic proportions. Beautiful weather, scrumptious food and fantastic company, made for a lovely afternoon and evening …. Thanks Guys!!
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Sundays are generally the day of the week for catching up on all those jobs which running a home and family entail, so not much to say about all that! ….. BUT NOT TODAY! … We have just decided to head off down to the Wylye Valley, to gather material and photographs for a new driving trail we are creating …. see you all soon!
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I look forward to hearing more about your next book AND reading your next review. Both sound intriguing in totally different ways.
I’m currently reading the second in the “Paladin” series by Mike Nettleton & Carolyn J. Rose having just finished book five in Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway series. My last review was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and my next will be The House at Riverton by Kate Morton.
The puzzle looks fun. I haven’t got one out at the moment, but I’ll have you know (thanks to you) I now have to work the puzzle at Jigzone every day! I even go back to catch up on days I miss. 😉
I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!
Hi Kelly,
‘Jigzone Daily’ can be very addictive, can’t it? I generally only complete mine when other people have already clocked up ‘fastest’ and ‘average’ times, which makes things a bit more interesting! …. I have never yet achieved a ‘fastest’ time, however I always manage to beat the ‘average’ time and would get very upset if I didn’t! Some of the pictures can leave a little to be desired, however there are many which are truly amazing and some of the ‘factoid’ words below the picture can throw up interesting words for ‘Wondrous Words Wednesday’.
I am so pleased to have found another Carolyn J. Rose and Mike Nettleton fan, I really enjoy their writing. The last two books I read, ‘Hemlock Lake’ and its sequel, ‘Through A Yellow Wood’, are probably the best I have read so far and I really enjoyed the character of Dan Stone.
I enjoy the work of both Elly Griffiths and Kate Morton, however John Green is a new name to me. I shall be doing a little more research into this book and stopping by to check out your review.
Hope that your weekend was good and thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your comments.
Ah…so people have to submit those scores. I wondered why sometimes they were there and sometimes not. Makes sense. Still, I’m surprised they aren’t always there by the time I work it considering time zones. My goal is always to beat the average time (which I usually do). I question some of those fastest scores!!
Yes, some of those fastest scores do seem a little too good to be true, don’t they?
The daily puzzle usually goes live at about 6am UK time, although I generally have to leave working on it until I get in from work in the evenings, to allow those two score markers to have been posted.
My husband and daughter are the puzzle people in our family. I’m not a puzzle lover unless it’s a beach scene or a lighthouse, but I’ve never seen one like that and I do like it a lot!
Your volunteer work sounds so rewarding!
Hi Vicki,
The volunteer work is very rewarding, however I do tend to get a little carried away with it and spend much more time in the shop than I should, working with all those lovely books is just so addictive! I am also responsible amongst other things, for the jigsaw puzzles, so as you can imagine, that’s a double whammy for me!
You would be in your element if you lived in a coastal town, not too far away from us, on the North Somerset coast, called Burnham-On-Sea. It boasts not one, but three lighthouses, all different in design and structure, although only one of them now remains active.
http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/lighthouses.shtml
I hope that you enjoy the link and thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for the link Yvonne! I checked it out the the lighthouses are beautiful!!
No problem, my favourite has to be the one which is now a hotel … a pretty novel idea!
Hi Yvonne. Glad the storms passed and the BBQ was a success! The charity work sounds like a wonderful way to give to others.
Happy reading and reviewing, that AARP book looks like a hoot.
The puzzle sounds like a great find, even if there’s not much details about the images used.
And enjoy your Sunday by the river! Sounds like a nice time.
Sunday is supposed to be my day to rest since I worked 6 days this week, but alas, I’ve been very busy. I spent most of today searching for a dress for my daughters school dance, which we did not find yet. So that means more searching this upcoming week.
Hi Naida,
My sister-in-law is a seamstress, so this is a particularly busy time of the year for her, as in addition to her usual wedding workload, there are the additional orders of prom dresses. ‘Proms’ have taken off here in the UK in the last few years, with the tradition being very firmly rooted in the US. Each year has seen her order book increase, as the girls all vie for that unique outfit, so I can imagine what you are going through with your daughter right now …. Good Luck!
It has been another scorching hot day, although I don’t think it has been that way in many parts of the Country. We managed some excellent walking and enjoyed a lovely pub lunch, eaten Al Fresco, which always makes it taste better!
‘Mags And the AARP Gang’ is such a difficult book to describe. the storyline seems like such an unlikely one, however the deeper messaging behind it, is very poignant and emotional. The review should be up soon!
Have a good week and a successful shopping trip.
Disappointed that we didn’t get the storms, the golf ball sized hailstones we were promised though like you we had an event to go to so it was probably just as well.
I really like your jigsaw, so much so that I’d consider having it framed but then I suppose if you are a jigsaw fanatic there are so many out there that you couldn’t possibly frame and hang every one of them.
Hi Tracy,
If those forecast hailstones are anything like the size of these that landed in Nebraska last week, I am so glad that we missed them!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27702200
No outdoor event could have withstood that, you really do need to watch the video to fully appreciate it!
I do enjoy my jigsaw puzzles and if being an addict means that I have a ‘To Be Done’ pile all stacked up, then I guess I had better put my hands up!
I rather think that Dave would go mad if I suggested framing a jigsaw puzzle, the only place I could ever envisage him hanging it, would be in the shed!
Generally, my daily dose of jigsaw, is satisfied online, although even that is becoming rather competitive to get a good completion time, especially now I know that Kelly has become addicted to it as well!
http://www.jigzone.com/
Our weekend event took place in glorious sunshine and I hope that yours was likewise. Thanks for stopping by.
Jigsaw puzzles online? Now I really have seen it all. Glad you had a good weekend. The fayre I went to raised just over a thousand pound which wasn’t bad given that the weather meant it wasn’t particularly well attended.
Hi Tracy,
I can’t have a day go by without my jigsaw puzzle fix and if I miss a day, I will always catch up with those I have missed out on … Sad I know, but it makes me happy! … LOL
A thousand pounds is a good amount of money to raise. Was it for any particular charity? More importantly, was there a book table and if so, did you come away with any exciting titles?
I love that jigsaw design, they are so enjoyable to do aren’t they. I do one every so often but always use the dining table so have to bear in mind if it will need to be cleared. One day I’ll get one of those boards so that I can move it around and not be in a rush to complete it.
Well done on your volunteering Yvonne. I volunteer in a charity shop too and I love seeing what books have arrived each week.
Hi Lindsay,
It is probably a bit over the top to say that I am a jigsaw addict. I don’t feel the need to have a puzzle on the go at all times, however I do like to know that I have a few to choose from any time I do fancy starting one. The puzzle boards really are a great idea, although I do tend to move mine off the table keeping it flat and haven’t put the concept fully to the test by holding it upright in the carrying position! I have gone off the traditional ‘chocolate box’ scenery puzzles, in favour of the nostalgic, multi image pictures, similar to the featured item in this post. I particularly like the diversity of the images and the colour variety.
I do often work front of house in the charity shop, although much of my time is spent in the back area, sorting and pricing books, jigsaws, music and film and toys and games. The trouble with that, is that temptation is only the next donation away, although I know that I shall never be short of a book to read, a jigsaw puzzle to complete, or wool for my charity knitting and crocheting ….. Thank Goodness for staff discount!!
Which charity does your shop support and what is your volunteering role? I am always interested in other charities, particularly local causes, although there are so many these days, that both donations and volunteers are becoming more and more difficult to find as they are shared so many ways!
Great to hear from you, I always enjoy your interesting comments.