Five on Friday

My Five on Friday has to do with books, what a surprise.  I read all the time, everything, ingredients on cans, advertisements, the dictionary, if it's in print I'm reading it.  So I'm always looking for sources of new books.
There are some Blogs I read that I can always trust for good recommendations.

The first is Marianne at Let's Read.  She's German, but currently living in the Netherlands.  She reads in German and English and has introduced me to so many new authors.  Her blog is well written, has great reviews and is one I always look forward to reading.

Second is Dani at A Work in Progress.  She blogs nearly every day and reads such a variety of books and short stories.  Amazon has made a small fortune off the books I've ordered after reading her reviews.

Third is Cathy at  Kittling: Books.  She mainly does mysteries, but I read tons of mysteries so I've found her very helpful in finding new books.  She also does This Week's Link Round-Up that has links to Books, Movies and other interesting Tidbits.

Fourth is Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy .  She writes about a variety of subjects, but it's her book blogging I enjoy the most.

Fifth is a mixture of sites:  Amazon (of course), Goodreads, BookBub, Flavorwire, Buzzfeed, whatshouldireadnext.com, Penguin Classics

So go find a good book to read.

It's Done

Mac finished up building the greenhouse by himself, quite a feat with a cracked rib.  Seedlings have been planted, loads of tomatoes and peppers, 4 pots of Forget Me Nots and a pot of Sweet Williams.  Lots more room so we'll be planting more.
Right next door the Fava Beans (Broad Beans) are just about ready to eat, we like them when they're still small.
The weather here was in the mid-80's so everything is growing like crazy.  I finally got the raised beds in the garden weeded and I've planted peas (it'll soon be too hot for them) and pole beans.  Last week I saw that the strawberries were in flower and yesterday I saw that we have strawberries already.
Around the veggie bed are tubs of potatoes that are really doing well and lettuce, some of which is ready to eat.
Hope it doesn't stay this warm though, we need some nice 70º weather before summer hits.

Fava Beans

Green beans and peas seeded, strawberries already producing.

New Paintings

Jo at Through the Keyhole  asked if my new header was one of Mac's paintings and the answer is yes.      He painted it for me last year when I asked for a bunny painting.
Since then his paintings have had a darker look, not quite so cuddly.  I really like the one of the alligator with her babies on her back.  I think the guitar/mandolin/banjo painting is great too, doubt if he'll sell that one.

Rewards

I got rewarded for being a good girl last week.  Had to take my B-12 shot as well as visiting Melisandre my dermatologist who proceeded to burn my face and slice my nose--my nose absolutely hates her.
Didn't cry, thought I might, but sucked it up and didn't, didn't smile either.  No lollipop, but Mac took me out for Japanese food, Spring rolls which we shared and hibachi shrimp for me, it came with fried rice and veggies.   He had a Bento box that had white rice, California rolls and Tempura Shrimp.  Very tasty.  I told the waitress, who I assumed was Japanese, it was a Japanese restaurant and she was definitely Oriental, that our daughter was living in Japan.  She, in very broken English, said they were all from China.  So much for assumptions.

Spring Rolls

Bento Box

Hibachi Shrimp

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all our friends and family.  The eggs are colored waiting to be deviled.  There will be lamb chops and veggies and far too much food.
The Easter Bunny has been here bringing me a wooly lamb and a new wreath  for the front door.
Hope your Easter is a special time for you.

The South in Spring Time

We love living in the south, can truthfully say we've never lived anywhere prettier or with friendlier people.  But we especially love it in the spring time.
We went across the street the other day to walk through an area on the Ogeechee River. The Live Oaks draped in Spanish Moss with the river in the background are just spectacular.

My favorite house, I'd move in tomorrow

Japanese Maple

Our neighbor's Dogwood, they won't grow for us

Our Azalea with visitors

Tuesday

Oh what a beautiful day we had, can finally believe that spring might be on the way.  March roared in at the beginning and as they're promising thunder storms for tonight I guess it will roar out of here.  It's been a long, dreary month, come on April.
The greenhouse is almost done.  In the meantime our potatoes have come up and the Fava beans are only about a week from picking.
Living in the country and not having to pay sewer charges every month is nice.  Having your septic tank pumped out isn't.  But we hadn't done it since we moved in and it was over due.  Folks showed up on time, did the dirty deed and were on their way with only a bit of our hard earned cash.
Meanwhile Miss Kitty slept the sleep of the innocent like all good cats do.

ARGH!!!!!!

I started a new puzzle last week.  And as always I separated the pieces out, finding all the edge pieces and then sorting pieces by color or what part they are---part of the red bird, yellow bird, house, sky, snow.  That took a while to do, but in the long run it makes it easier to work on the puzzle.
Went up today to get some yarn (the puzzle is on a table in my craft room) for a project I wanted to get started on and of course I sat down to see if I could fit a few pieces into the puzzle.  I have a good beginning, one of houses was done, a cardinal was done, most of the edge was done.
Miss Kitty followed me upstairs demanding attention and I guess I didn't give her enough because she jumped up in the middle of the puzzle which was on a big piece of foamboard (Mac gave me that and a lazy Susan so I could turn my puzzle around) and the puzzle pieces flew up in the air and went everywhere.  I'm surprised that people in the 4 closest states didn't hear my scream.  Miss Kitty ran down the stairs, then crept back up then coming in with what passes for a "I'm sorry" look for a cat.
The pieces are back up, sorted, but not as well as before and I tried to get some of them put back together again.
I'm not a happy camper.

Compensations

There are some compensations for doing the laundry, though not many.  I'll grant you clean clothes, but I also have a nice window in the laundry room and even better, a great view out of the window.

Basket

I finished my jute basket and it looks ok, but I find it a bit floppy.  I probably should have crocheted with a double strand of jute though the directions didn't call for it.  And Lord knows that one strand was rough enough on my hands. Mac said to put a bowl in it and that definitely helps with the stability.  Then I put in a bag of Easter eggs.  The chick says that's fine.
The corners of my entryway are ready for Easter.  Now if I can find some lamb for sale that doesn't involve us having to mortgage the house to buy.

The First Alligator of Spring

He came groovin up slowly, he got juju eyeballs, he got muddy water, oh yes indeed.  The first alligator of spring dropped by today, isn't he a doozy.

Our dock out back

And you thought your backyard had critters in it.