Snow, Books and a Doodle

We had some snow overnight Saturday into Sunday. It was so pretty clinging to the trees.

I took a bunch of photos on the way to Des Moines. This is the one I liked the best.
We were headed to Polk City for a birthday party, but left early enough for a stop at Half Price Books so I could finally use the Mother's Day gift card Preston and Shalea gave me last May.

It's easy for me to spend hours browsing in a book store. The amount on the card was very generous $25. I wanted to be sure to use it all without a balance left over and I managed that! My total was almost double that amount!
I've got a couple library books to read and return before I start on these, but the first one I'll read is the Ivan Doig. He has been a favorite author and Last Bus to Wisdom was his final book before his death, so it will be a bitter-sweet read.
I'll also be dipping into that slender book of Ted Kooser poems, Delights & Shadows. I'm excited to see what treasures I find therein.
I found three older P.D. James books and one Minette Walters that I hope I haven't read already. The Doerr I chose because I like his writing and went in search of books by him. Smiley is almost always a good read. The Maggs I got because I wanted his Oscar and Lucinda, but didn't find it on this visit.

Did you notice the Google doodle today? It marks the 180th birthday of Sir William Henry Perkin, the British chemist who discovered the first aniline dye, the purple mauveine. Thank you, Sir William, for one of my favorite colors.