It's a sunny day, cold but lovely blue sky!

I'm sitting here sipping a wonderful cup of Earl Grey tea with just a little sugar added. Too bad I don't have any cookies or tea sandwiches...maybe next week :)

Read more of my book last night! Such a great read, with lots of adventure, romance, scenery, etc. I would love to go to Ireland, but for now I'm going to enjoy the description of the countryside in my book.

I just finished my second book by author Marty Wingate. This one is RED BOOK OF PRIMROSE COTTAGE. It is laid in England current time, and the heroine is a girl landscape designer from Texas who had an English mother. She spent a year in England (see first volume) trying to get a job as head gardener to take care of an historical British garden. There was a murder, first and second story, the writing is sprightly, she is a new author so one day she may be a real Agatha Christie! I liked both books because there was a lot of description of plants and historic garden design, and of the people she met. The story had depth, and if you like gardening such as cottage style or British style, you'll enjoy he horticultural descriptions. I liked the first one so much I preordered the second one. I guess they are available in print, but I got them both as ebooks on my Kindle.

I like to read the Kindle Fire in bed, because I can turn off the light and change the Kindle background to black with white letters, and it disturbs no one, and I simply lay it down when I'm ready to buzz off.

Oh yeah. Sometimes between books I play Mahjong, just my favorite style games, and the ritual of it seems to lull my mind into a state of tranquility, and sleep is always nearby.

I've just begun "Seabiscuit". Nothing like being a little late to the party. But it has grabbed me right from the start.

This post was edited by Tibbrix on Thu, Nov 13, 14 at 20:38

Tibbrix- My mom loves the movie! I'll have to tell her to try the book :)

ML- Thank you! That sounds like my kind of book...and I'm going to need something new to read, when I finish this one. My mom and I really enjoy watching reruns of Rosemary & Thyme, so this might be a fun read for both of us!

We like to read-aloud as a family. Our kids are 14 and down, and we all (DH included) just finished the book Ella Enchanted, a Newberry Medal winner by Gail Carson Levine. The kids and I read it about a year ago, and then watched the movie a few weeks ago. Well, DH missed the first reading, but caught most of the movie. We all told him he had to hear the book (since it's far and away better.) Thus, we read it again. It was just as delightful the second time through. It's a Cinderella-esque tale with witty characters. The heroine of the story, Ella, is a young lady who was given the "gift" of obedience as an infant and has to do anything anyone commands her to do. This gets her into some dreadful circumstances.

None of us wanted the story to end. It really helped us to understand why God gives each of us humans choices in this life, rather than making us automatons who must obey him.

Laughable- I'm so glad you could join us for tea! :)

I have seen the Ella Enchanted movie, but not read the book...I think my niece would really enjoy it!

My nephew and I read, The Rats from NIMH (much better and very different from the movie) a few years ago. He was staying with us for a few weeks and needed to do a book report. It was a lot of fun and he said it encouraged him to read more books!

Thanks for the recommendation, Laughable. I have an 11 year old granddaughter named Ella, and reading it will put her in the character's role. I found it as a Kindle edition and just got it.

Perhaps I saw the movie, but I don't recall. I note it available through Amazon Instant Video. A nice clean movie is always relaxing to watch.

Aww, glad you guys found this useful. I felt a little silly speaking about a "kids" book. LOL

Yes, Lavender, there's nothing quite as enchanting as a good story read aloud together. It's great you were able to read with your nephew that way. My kids liked Rats of Nimh too (haven't read it myself.)

I'll bet your grandaughter will like the story, moccasinlanding. : ) The movie's ...ok, but the book is much better. The movie's story line veers quite a bit from the book. I think maybe they could have faced copyright infringements from Disney Cinderella if they stuck more to the book's themes. That's my best guess as to why they butchered, I mean changed, it.