It’s Saturday. No, you haven’t lost your mind. I’m writing this on Saturday even though you’re reading it on Monday.
It’s Saturday and it’s cold, more than cold—frigid. This morning it was -7 F and felt like -14. If we can make it until Sunday, it might be 30, a heat wave in these days of sub-zero temperatures, both real and with wind chill. We have snow, but it’s too cold to go out to properly enjoy it. I even drove the few blocks to the salon for my every-six-months-or-so haircut.
It’s Saturday and I’m faced with a delightful dilemma: which book should I read next?* In the spirit of supporting our local library to the best of my ability and to feed my need to read (oooo, I love the sound of that phrase), I usually have 15 or more books checked out and 40-50 on hold, many of which haven’t come out yet. Don’t you just love the ability to do that? Our library has a “Best Seller” list that offers a plethora of categories, including “Adult Fiction” and “Adult Non-fiction” under the headings of “Just Arrived” and “Coming Soon.” Just click “Hold.” That’s like crack to an addict.
It’s Saturday and I don’t have to work…although my desire to sip tea and read fights with the knowledge that I need to put away Christmas decorations and do other useful tasks. As we’ve lost an assistant manager at work and are about to lose a shift leader to fulltime jobs with benefits and better pay, I’ve been working nights (10 pm closing weekdays and 11 on weekends), which are hard for me as I tend to wake up early no matter my bedtime. Today I slept (a bit fitfully) until 7 am, quite a sleep-in for me. Saturdays always seem as if they should be days off.
It’s Saturday and the laundry is done, including my work clothes. The teapot is empty and my first book has been finished. I made corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage for dinner, even though it’s not nearly St. Patrick’s Day. Everything turned out perfectly, but the best part will be having homemade corned beef hash tomorrow! For dessert, we shared three homemade (not by me but by a nearby grocery store bakery) marshmallows in fruit flavors and some peppermint bark. The bread machine has produced another perfect loaf of bread that smells divine and I’m ready to choose my next book.
It’s Saturday. Just…ahhhhh!
* In case you’re wondering, the books causing me angst are as follows:
A Legacy of Spies, by John le Carré,
Final Account, by Peter Robinson (I’m rereading his Inspector Banks books),
The Bomb Maker, Thomas Perry’s newest,
Shadow Play, the latest of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles delightful DI Slider books, and
Sulfur Springs, by William Kent Kruger, a Cork O’Connor book, although this one takes place in Arizona, rather than Minnesota, but lots of people still get killed. Kruger deals with both sides of the border/cartel/drugs issues. This is the one I chose, for no particular reason.
This, that and the other thing 
Hmm, all your books are murder and mayhem, then? Have a good week!
In fiction, my preference is for mysteries/thrillers. But I’ve also got a stack of non-fiction I’m working through as well.
You have a good week, too.
janet
Likewise…on all counts!
Anything but putting away Christmas. I burrowed in this weekend too. Knitting and reading. You’ve got a lot to choose from in that stack of books. They sound exciting but might keep me up nights. I’d read the one with the least bodies but how would you know? Have a good week.
If people died in real life as rapidly as they do in most mysteries, we’d never have over-population worries, that for sure. 🙂 I still sometimes stay up too late reading, but with working the evening shifts lately, I tend more towards falling asleep while reading.
janet
I love to read too and am stuck on WWII ever since I read Nightingale. I couldn’t put it down. Now I’m reading Lilac Girls but it is a very difficult read so I’m taking it slow as I’ve had a few nightmares from it. I need some more uplifting books! At least we have a heat wave now!
Yes, we have a heat wave here, too–32 this morning. 🙂 Is “Nightingale” fact or fiction? You might enjoy “Code Girls” if you like WWII books. It’s about the American women code breakers and I (and my husband and one daughter) found it fascinating.
janet
Thanks! Nightingale is historical fiction. Thanks for the recommendation!
How could I forget to recommend “Foyle’s War?” It’s a series about WWII that was on BBC and it possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen on television. Your library may have it. It’s just wonderful!
Oh that sounds good Janet! I will add it to my list and see if I can track it down. thanks for thinking of it!
Crazy seesaw weather! 🙂 🙂 Sounds like you have a really good library service, Janet. Our local one is now closed Tuesdays and Fridays as well as weekends- the days I’m most likely to use it, so I’m tending to pick books up in charity shops/swap schemes. Not the same amount of choice.
In one of the fiction books I read recently, the town had a small library and the librarian was talking about how hard it was to stay open and that people weren’t using it as much as possible. My aim is to keep the library of any place I live open all the time!! 🙂
Good aim! I’d go tomorrow but it’s Tuesday 😦
I don’t usually take books out from the library because it takes me too long to read them since most of the time it is in bed before I go to sleep. I know I can just go online and renew but…I’m trying to use the books I have on hand first to complete the PopSugar challenge I’m doing this year.
I’ve not hear of the PopSugar challenge, but I had to laugh when I read on FB about challenging yourself to read more than last year. If I did that, I’d have to quit either my part time job or blogging as reading is a part of my daily life. 🙂 Our library has a three-week checkout period, but with as many books as I have at one time, I often have to renew or return. Fortunately, we’re only a short distance from the library and I go past it to my job, so that’s easy.
janet
janet
I’ve used PopSugar for the last 3 years to help me pick books. It gets me away from my usual mystery stories, although I manage to get some of them in as well!
Frigid weather, chilling tales and a warm stomach—sounds like a good weekend. How was the hash the next day?
Ω
Those numbers are utterly unreal to me. I can’t begin to imagine, nor would I want to, what that feels like in real life. If the temperature drops below freezing, that’s already too much for me to handle!
🙂 At least you were nice and warm while reading this, Hannah, and it’s up to 35 today and sunny, so we’re loving it.
janet
Long ago in Costa Rica I would hoard a tall stack of used books – and discipline myself to wait til the rainy season before peeking…. Ah, it was such a joy to hear that rainfall, and it was lovely when it set in and stayed for days! I’d reach for a book and would be ‘worthless’ until the final page.. then perhaps reach for the next one..
I missed public libraries back then, and now in Ecuador, I still miss libraries – or an easy source of fresh titles! There’s nothing like holding a real book in one’s hands!
One of the requirements when we look for somewhere to retire will be a good library/library system. I could never afford to buy even half the books I read in a year and although I love my Kindle and Kindle app for travel or e-books, I do love a real book as well.
janet
Janet, I can sympathize. Our temps have been at single digits for days and wind adds additional frigid air. Our break also begins this week, the forecast for 30s and 40s will feel like summer is back. Enjoy the warmth.
35 right now and sunny. I have lots to do indoors, but it makes me feel good anyway. 🙂 Tomorrow I’ll be outside, so hopefully it will still be lovely and “warm.”
Sounds like a very good day to me. Saturday was brutal, but we almost got to 30 today. I love corned beef and cabbage. I know what you mean about waking up the same time regardless of when you get to sleep. That’s always the way it is for me.
Just finished another (last) meal of corned beef hash and it was SO good. I believe I’ll have to get another corned beef soon. There should be plenty of it between now and Mar. 17! It got to 35 here today but I was indoors all day, putting away Christmas decorations. They’re promising 36,45, 53, and then 26 and 18 over the next five days, so it will be a rollercoaster ride.
janet
It was 31 when I left for work today – It felt so warm. We still haven’t put the decorations away. Maybe this weekend.
It’s 27 right now, on the way to the mid-thirties today, then into the forties tomorrow and fifties on Thursday before plummeting again into winter temps. Weather is always interesting and often unexpected.
I did get the decorations put away, mainly because we have company tonight and I leave for Arizona on Monday. I always hate to see them go and it’s much harder to put them away than get them out. Finding the right place again–grrrrrr!
My problem is getting them back into the box.
Exactly!!
I also slept poorly and woke too early on Saturday. No idea what that was about!
Our library also has a “Just in” section, which I am a sucker for as well 🙂
My MIL makes the world’s best corned beef and sweet gravy, but I’d try yours just to be sure!
No gravy in my hash, just potatoes and corned beef. I bet my husband would enjoy hers as he loves gravy. But mine is hard to beat.
janet
That is, no gravy on the hash, just potatoes and meat.
ahhh – enjoy your books, Janet – and I love the sound of “feed my need to read”
and hope you are having some warmer temps – we are just today
🙂
It was warmer and I enjoyed it even though I was inside all day. I have to walk a friend’s dogs this morning, so we’ll see how much warmer things feel when I’m outside and it’s still early. 🙂
Oh yes libraries I love our local library, like yours it is a treasure trove of possibilities. The catalogue, in this digital age, is a place I can get lost in checking what to take out next. I usually have 8-10 non-fiction, usually art books, and only a couple of fiction, I find it difficult to find time to read these days and in the evening I fall asleep over a book.
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