Home » Diary Home » Week of 14 April 2008

Photograph of Barbara Fritchman Thompson Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 14 April 2008

Latest Update: Sunday, 20 April 2008 12:15 p.m.


Monday, 14 April 2008

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

I love springtime but really hate when every flat surface is covered in a yellow film of pollen. We actually had frost this morning.  The long range forecast, which is way too far out for them to predict anyway looks just like it has been for the last month. Cold start to the week, warm up, rain and storms for the weekend. 

Over the weekend I started another Sarah Stewart Taylor, Judgment of the Grave from my TBR shelf. Taylor's character Sweeney St. George has gone off to nearby Concord to do research on a gravestone carver from the mid to late 1700's. While searching the graveyard for headstones she meets up with Pres Whiting,  a 12 year old boy who has a rare form of cancer. She learns he had a Revolutionary War ancestor who was also a stone mason and carver and who mysteriously  disappeared the day the first shots were fired on the green starting the Revolutionary War. Walking home from the graveyard, Pres and Sweeney stumble upon a body in a shallow grave dressed as a Revolutionary Redcoat probably from one of the recent reenactment camps. 

Sweeney decides to pursue the history of Pres' ancestor who had a very unique way of carving headstones. She takes a room at a nearby Inn to do her research and of course, help investigate the murder of the mysterious Redcoat. As I mentioned before, the plot theme sounds a little macabre but Taylor does an excellent job of weaving current and past history into the plot to solve the murder.  There are several sub-plots going on at the same time including a tie in to the last book and her character Detective Tim Quinn.


[Top]


Tuesday, 15 April 2008

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

No update.



[Top]


Wednesday, 16 April 2008

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Last night I had dinner with Frances and her friend Marcie at T. K. Tripps. One of the reasons for meeting for dinner was to discuss our travel plans for the fall. We decided the trip we had planned for August would be too much for dad. We picked out an alternate trip for October but Marcie could not do that one plus New England in October may be too cold for the folks. We finally found a trip on August that looks like it suits everyone so Frances took care of getting us signed up.

Dad's heart doctor has not released him yet to schedule the knee surgery again. In fact, he may not release him at all. If they do decide to to do later this summer he will have to wait until we get back.

Tonight, of course, was gym night. It has been another very hectic week at work and it is only Wednesday. It was cold and windy yesterday but warmed up a lot more today to make my lunch walk a little more pleasant. We had to turn the heat back on Monday night with the temperatures going back down into the low 30's.



[Top]


Thursday, 17 April 2008

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


Last night I started a new Janet Evanovich, Plum Lucky, subtitled A  Between-the-Numbers Novel. This is the third book in her holiday novella series celebrating St. Patrick's Day; proceeded by Christmas and Valentine's Day. These books feature the usual cast of characters except Diesel replaces Morelli, though he does get mentioned, as one of the previous men in her life.

Grandma Moser takes of with a hired kid to drive a camper to Atlantic City to gamble away a bag of money she found. Of course the money was stolen to begin with so the guy she stole it from plus Stephanie, Lulu, and Connie from the bale bondsman's office take off after Grandma where they catch up with her in a casino. There are other wacky characters I will not take time to mention. These little novellas are as funny as her full length novels though I am not sure why she feels she has to write them between her full length ones. Which, by the way, she has number 14 coming out in June.

Back to warm weather again. 80 degrees today. I put shorts on when I got home from work. I hate this betwixt and between weather. Too cool at night to turn the heat off yet so darn warm during the day the house gets hot. It was so hot last week we had to turn the air on then we had frost two days later. Geesh. It is to be 80 again tomorrow. I may switch the AC back on in the morning before I take off for work.

The trash is out but I still need to gather up the recycling. The dogs need some playtime.



[Top]


Friday, 18 April 2008

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


It's no surprise the weather forecast for the weekend is a repeat of what we have had for the last month or so. In trying to stay one step ahead of mother nature I left work at four today by working through lunch. I made a quick stop at the library to pick up reserve books and then the weekly grocery shopping. While Bob put the groceries away I headed out to mow the lawn. This is the first time is a month I have been able to mow with it completely dry. With clouds and rain in the forecast tomorrow at least I have that out of the way.

I already had some gardening activities planed for the weekend. More on that tomorrow. It reached 80+ today. Tomorrow is to be cooler but not colder like it was last weekend.

Last night I finished the Stephanie Plum. Yea, it's a quick read and very funny, as a matter of fact, off the wall funny. Now after I my library visit I have lots to choose from for my next read. Bob is currently reading a series of books by Patricia Moyes. I picked up a paperback for his at the library book sale. After he read that one he liked it well enough for me to reserve what they had at the library. Her books were published from 1958 to 1993. She died in 2000. He character, Inspector Henry Tibbett of Scotland Yard. At one point I thought I might give them a try but decided not to right now. The character and setting are definitely in my reading area. But, for some reason I am not in the "older" books written back in the 50's - 70's right now. For one thing, the print us usually very small, which even with my glasses I have a hard time with. If you enjoy Agatha Christie type older mysteries you might want to give these a try. While I enjoy watching the older mysteries on TV I do not really enjoy reading them for some reason. 



[Top]


Saturday, 19 April 2008

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


I did sleep in until 8:30, read the paper, etc. before heading over to Marcie's house. She had some plants that needed divided and given new homes. I spent about an hour over visiting with her and digging up various hosta, black eyed Susan, and lots of other things I cannot remember the name of. I dropped those back off at home, grabbed a quick snack, and took off for the folks house. I rounded up more of dad's hanging pots setting him up in a chair to to fill and put plants in. While he did that I put the other plants that needed to go on the hill and the bed out front in the ground. Then I helped him put in and stake up his tomato plants.

That took about two hours. Just as we finished it started peppering a little rain but nothing to amount to anything. I watered everything just in case we don't get enough to soak the stuff in the ground.

Back across town I stopped at the garden store to pick up five bags of mulch, some grass seed, and something to kill all the ants I have along the curb and in the back. They are not fire ants just black ants but they have little hills all over the place.

When I got home I spread the five bags of mulch in the widened natural area in the back and planted most of everything I dug up at Marcie's house this morning. I watered it down real good as well as the sod I dug up and replanted last weekend. Again, just I finished up it started blowing rain with a little more seriousness to this wave of showers.

I've had a quick shower and now need to go fix dinner having not anything except a pack of nabs and a few cookies since 11am.



[Top]


Sunday, 20 April 2008

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]


The weekly house cleaning chores are completed. Once I finished those I took the dogs out back to play while I finished up my garden activities. I finished planting the few things left from Marcie's and the plants I bought last week at the garden store. I did a quick tiding up job of the basement area where things tend to get messy. I stock the boxes there until I break them down and pile other assorted stuff when I am too tired or busy to put it away properly then swept the floor.

I have bills to pay and stuff to sort on my desk but otherwise plan to take it easy the rest of the day. We did get a pretty good thunderstorm last night with more in the forecast for this afternoon.

I am reading the newest Joan Hess, Claire Malloy mystery Mummy Dearest. As you can tell from the title Hess set this one in Egypt. For some reason both Bob and I like her Claire Malloy series but not her Maggody series. As usual, Hess is delightfully funny as Claire and her recalcitrant daughter Caron along with her friend Inez join Peter in Egypt. Finally married, Peter and Claire are on their honeymoon in Luxor, Egypt although Peter is actually on a working holiday. 

[Top]


Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 by Barbara Fritchman Thompson. All Rights Reserved.