January '26 Books Read

 Cold weather = reading time ..... ten books read to begin the new year. 

When The Cranes Fly South by Swedish author Lisa Ridzén is about a widower nearing the end of his life and his relationships with his beloved dog and his estranged son. A story about love, aging, regret and family told through first person narration.

Nash Falls is David Baldacci's latest offering. I have been such a big fan of this author - until now. I really did not like the ending because it keeps the reader hanging. Did he or didn't he? I prefer my books to be more succinct.

The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan is set in the Scottish town of St. Andrews. It posits a world of two opposing factions of women both of which have been trying for more than a century to find and secure a medieval manuscript.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is an epistolary novel - one of my favorite genres, told through a series of letters. Sybil is a woman who has used letter writing throughout her life to make sense of the world and her place in it.

The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick is about an experimental and controversial treatment center in a remote setting of a California desert. 

To The Moon And Back by Eliana Ramage tells the story of a Cherokee woman who wants to become an astronaut.

The Incredible Kindness of Paper by Evelyn Skye is about childhood pen pals who connect years later in NYC after Chole begins writing uplifting messages on yellow origami paper folded into roses and leaving them all over the city. When Oliver finds one it leads him back to the childhood friend he never forgot.

I thought I had read all the Sandra Brown books in my library until I discovered three large print versions and quickly read my way through play dirty, smash cut and Lethal.

With the exception of these three books plus David Baldacci's, the others are all new authors to me, none of which excited me. I'm hoping to find a new author with lots of books on the shelf that I can read my way through. Any suggestions? Until then, I'm currently, and slowly, reading a hefty 916 page tome. February might see an extremely rare one book read month. 

Prairie Wildlife

 

Ahh, a quick red fox ran through the back yard this morning - the first I've seen in this new year of 2026 even though I've been watching for them. Facebook memories have shown me several fox photos this month from years past.

It doesn't seem as though there is as much wildlife around as there used to be, or maybe I'm just not looking at the right times. 

I'm feeling vexed this morning. My computer won't do what I want it to. It took forever to get my fox picture posted to FB. I keep getting an "out of memory" message. I'm hoping I will be able to post this much. Time for a new computer again?

I'll keep trying to find/fix the problem. In the meantime if you don't hear from me for awhile, try the phone or send me a letter by snail mail. 

Now, let's see if this will post.    😅

You Light Up My Life

You Light Up My Life was a #1 hit song by Debby Boone in 1977. Pat Boone was her father. I was a big fan of his in the 1950's-60's. (Ain't That A Shame; Love Letters In The Sand; April Love and Moody River.) But I digress. This post isn't about songs.

It's about lamps, specifically two old lamps that belonged to my parents which I still have.

This one, I think, dates from the 40's. The base was originally cobalt blue. It was paint that easily washed off which I did after the blue became chipped and unattractive.

I let the designs in the glass be the focus now.

It's a rather short, squat, lamp. The shade is about the same size as the old pleated, worn out one was.

I like this lamp. It sets in my office.

This is the other lamp. It stands on the chest of drawers in the spare bedroom. Its shade is also newer, perhaps not the best match for the base, but, oh well.

I do know a bit more about the history of this lamp. It was given to my parents in the 1950's by the Corning Gun Club for the care and raising of pheasants to be released throughout the county for hunting.

The pheasants were raised in a brooder house up the road on the west side at another farm site which we referred to as the other place. There were at least two years of pheasant raising there and, I think, even another lamp though I can't recall what it looked like.

What I especially like about this lamp is that it has a 3-way switch.

The base is a night light on it's own. Or you can have just the lamp lit or both the base and the lamp.

This lamp sat unused on top of the wardrobe in the west room upstairs for years because the switch didn't work. 

I liked the looks of this lamp so much. I kept it and my talented handyman husband rewired it for me.

I love this lamp.

I am at the stage in my life that I really would like my children and grandchildren to speak up for items they would like to have either to use or to keep as remembrances of me and/or my parents and grandparents. Thus, the histories, as much as I know, of these objects that light up my life.