Tag: books

Phavorites – January 2026

On By TimelessladyIn Phavorites16 Comments

Favorite Skywatch Photograph – As I photographed the rising moon Friday night, I captured an airplane at the perfect moment as it flew towards landing at Philadelphia International Airport.

Garden Joy (Clockwise Top to Bottom Left) Favorite coleus with a ‘mutated’ stem of a totally different color. Crushed eggshells for the garden beds (good for controlling soft bodied bugs), sprouted Dahlia seeds, baked eggshells before crushing, Stone Pine, beautiful bluish needles, soft and flexible, bought during Christmas season. Garden plans – Woo-Hoo! Hurry Spring

One of my favorite Signposts from January. It has the coolness of the season, but also the hope of Spring in the pink blossoms.

We have had icy snow on the ground for over a week. I have been throwing seed out daily, and the birds appreciate and devour it. We also replenish the suet cake as soon as it is gone. (Clockwise from top) One pleasure has been watching the squirrels and birds dive into the footprints we’ve left and gather the seed that skitters across the ice and accumulates in the indentation. A Junco on the new Tris bird camera. A Bluejay having a meal on the Tris camera. A Bluejay is enjoying the mixed bird seed on the snow.

Thanks for looking. I hope to take part in some Photo Challenges this month. Stay tuned.

Program, Pages, and Philm – A Mystery and Romance

On By TimelessladyIn Pages, Philm, Programs5 Comments

Photograph of Agatha Christie courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

I love mysteries, and Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is very good. I recently watched the story for the first time through an Acorn Subscription on Prime Video. The television broadcast was divided into three parts and was very suspenseful. I didn’t figure it out, and that is a very good thing. There were some actors well-known to me and a few new faces.

Miss Christie’s mystery and older versions of the movie have been around for decades. The book was first published in 1939, and a movie, which is free on YouTube now, was released in 1945. Miss Christie was a talented individual, and I am listening to an audiobook biography of her life, titled Duchess of Death by Richard Hack.

The classic Somewhere In Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, is a romance movie for the first weekend of February. I can watch it over and over again and never tire of it. Christopher Plummer, a favorite hero of mine in The Sound of Music, plays a very believable villain.

All of these are fairly easy to find through video subscriptions, prime video, youtube, public libraries, and Hoopla, a free service through public libraries.

Pages – A Biography and History

On By TimelessladyIn Pages4 Comments

This past week, I finished reading The Bronte Sisters, The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne by Catherine Reef. It was an excellent biography of the Bronte sisters who authored several books. Between them, the sisters wrote Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Shirley, Villette, The Professor, and a volume of poetry called Poems.

Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, is far and away my favorite. I have read and listened to it on Audiobook, and I especially enjoy viewing the many versions of it on movie screens and television. I want to enjoy Wuthering Heights, too, and I do, somewhat, but it is a dark story and I’ve never taken to it like I have Jane Eyre. 


Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard are excellent writers and always find a way to make history enjoyable for me. Confronting the Presidents is not an exception to that fact. I am a quarter of the way through and beginning to read the chapter on President Zachary Taylor. I am strangely mesmerized by the peculiarities and eccentricities of the presidents who helped form our country. Believe me, they all had a few. Did you know one of the early presidents skinny-dipped daily in the Potomac and was often joined by staff and occasionally pedestrians walking by? 

I’ve enjoyed this book because it reminds me of long-ago learned history, which has settled at the bottom of my brain. I have loved being reminded of The Louisiana Purchase and other significant events brought about by the first presidents. 

Since chronological order doesn’t matter, I read the end chapter on President Donald Trump. I felt lukewarm about O’Reilly’s assessment of President Trump’s first presidency. I was offended by Martin Dugard’s opinion on President Trump, but he is entitled to think as he will. 

I recommend both of these non-fiction books.