Good for you Cheryl. You've whizzed through those books for the HF Mystery challenge! Hope you're feeling well.....

WOW Cheryl --- Hurray for you --- I think you might be the first to finish the Historical Mystery Challenge, but Miss Jeanne would probably know better than I.  I can't seem to remember anyone else claiming victory at this point!!!  Let me know what you think of "The Janissary Tree" once you finish.  I read it sometime back and would be interested to see what you think.  Hugs to you ---

I have been waiting a long time to use this. 

Jerelyn --- That is MARVELOUS!!!!!!!

Becky,  I saw it on one of our Karla's Goodreads posts. 

Yes, Letty -- that is wonderful -- though I'm still partial to our pole dancer Trixie from last year's thread (oh, how I miss Valli):

LOL I forgot about Trixie,  I miss Valli too. :( ~sobs~

Man, I always miss the Sangria. 

Cute, cute stuff ladies!

I come back to this thread after a few days away and the topic of conversation is...pole dancing? Y'all are my favorites.

I went downtown with a friend yesterday to see the French tall ships that are anchored here in honor of the 450th anniversary of the French discovery of the St. John's River. A lot of the parts I wanted to explore were roped off, but it was still very interesting to see. Plus, in honor of "French Week", the downtown area restaurants had several French themed dishes--most of which sounded very tasty! I stuck to enjoying an Orangina at the used book store.

I finished A Foreign Affair this morning. It was a very quick read with an intriguing mystery, and as I continue the series I think it will be fun getting back into the relative familiarity of Victorian England after my recent forays into Georgian times. I've got Island of Bones on order (finally) and two recent YA releases on hold at the library, so I'm trying to find another couple quick reads to squeeze in before those get here.

Aimee, that sounds terrific!  I saw the tall ships in Duluth a couple of years back they are amazing. 

OMG Jerelyn, I love, love it.

The tall ships are awe-inspiring. I absolutely love them and could watch them all day if I had the chance! After doing my own share of sailing, it is amazing how they could manage those ships that, by our standards today, would be considered pretty unwieldy!

Jane I wish I could take credit for it, but I shamlessly stole that from our Karla.  Who, doesn't visit us enough.

I am reading Get Out or Die, by Jane Finnis, it is a Roman era mystery and I know nothing about it, I don't even know where it came from.

LOL Jerelyn!  I can't stop watching--just keep scrolling back up to see it again.  I'm tempted to find some appropriate music to play along with it.  =)

OMG love the pole dancing bunny!!

The bunny is funny! 

I love tall ships (though I don't know if the ones I saw were French). I live near Lake Erie, and tall ships come to port almost every summer. One of my favorite French foods is Croque Monsieur - a toasted cheese sandwich smothered in cheese sauce. The name translates as "Mr. Crunchy" which cracks me up for some reason. 

I found a recipe recently for sangria popsicles that I simply must try. 

Oh, um, are we supposed to be discussing books? 

Cool pic Aimee, I've seen them in Newport. Impressive. 

Jerelyn...what are we going to do with you? You know the Easter Bunny is going to be pissed you got your hands on that tape...

I just finished My Father Had a Daughter and loved it! Truly felt that I was reading nonfiction, the characters were so real! Now I am reading The Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee, and enjoying it as well. I am also glad to finally have time to return to the forum! Debbie

Welcome back Debbie!  Hope you are able to stay with us now - or at least pop in from time to time.

Hi Debbie, nice to see you.

I have found it is very tiring to switch careers when...we'll just say college was a long time ago! Brain-tired is way worse (in my humble opinion!) to cope with than body-tired. Think I've got the hang of the job, so I can read! And, I probably need to take a back-hoe to the house pretty soon! Appreciate the welcome; that's one of the reasons I love this forum!  Debbie

I love the pole dancing bunny!!

Finished up Empress of the Seven Hills a little while ago - thought it was pretty good.  Next is an OOP - The Black Plantagenet by Pamela Bennetts (about The Black Prince).  I mentioned this a couple of days ago over at GR to someone who was looking for books about him and decided to read it.  I'm making an effort to work some of the many, many older books on my shelves into my book queue and not just read the newer ones.

Hate to say this, but I bailed on the new Gortner book halfway. It just wasn't working for me at this point in my life. I've got a ton of older books hanging around that are begging to be read, including the Windhaven Series which I own all but one now. That series is looking mighty tempting.