May in Review

I know it is the 2nd of June and I am writing my review of the previous month. That might be a record for this year.

I think that is a great photo -- J captured that in the green.

Let's begin with the fun thing I did this month. I read six books maybe that is why I didn't get unfinished projects completed. Anyway most of these were novels or easy reading and so those I can read quickly. I did take the reading speed test from Staples. My reading speed is 555 wpm.

Her Mother's Hope - by Francine Rivers - It has been a long time since I read a book from Francine Rivers. I actually purchased the 2nd book in this series first and had to wait to get the first one. This is the first one. I enjoyed it. Through the two books it tells the stories of four generations of women in a family, the secrets they had, love and challenges.

Her Daughter's Dream - by Francine Rivers - This is the second book in the series. While these are separate books it does help to read them in order as it gives the full story.

Saving Amelie - by Cathy Gohlke - I think I just found this book looking on amazon. This is set in Germany during WWII. I began the book and didn't want to pause. I read the book in about 24 hours during which time not much else got done.

Secrets She Kept - by Cathy Gohlke - After reading Saving Amelie and enjoying it, I had to read this book. I enjoyed it as much. It didn't end quite the way you wanted it to end but that is war and what happened. Again this was a book about secrets kept in a family. Now I am wondering what secrets we have in our family.

Britty Britty Bang Bang by Hugh Dennis - I found this in the library and thought it might help me to understand where I am living. It was humorous, historical, and descriptive. I learned all kinds of interesting bits of information. There were a few parts that were borderline but overall it was easy to read. I enjoyed reading about opening of parliement and timed that perfectly as the next day that happened and I understood bits of history.

Ante Up by Chautona Havig - This is the fourth book in her series Aggie's Inheritance. It is planned to be released later in June so more on that later. If you need something to read until then begin with Ready or Not and be ready for Ante Up when it is released.

I have a few books that I am currently reading and hopefully will finish in June. My total for this year is 21 books. This is the first year that I have really kept a list so I don't know how that compares with other years.

Well, I was doing all the reading and I did keep current with scrapbooking. It is nice to know that is current. I do have a scrapbooking project to work on as a Christmas gift.

I finished Miss K's name pillow for her so that is a project finished. I didn't work on any of the other unfinished projects. I currently have eight projects on the list.

We had a day of summer and so we took advantage of that day and went for a picnic and a walk. We also went out one afternoon to see the bluebells.

Miss K and I went for a walk with friends on Saturday. It was a new to us place but I think there are a number of them here. This was a 5 minute drive from our house. We wandered the path, found the cafe. I think that is a difference between here and the US -- there are cafes everywhere, at the parks, at the stores, where ever you might need a cup of tea and a treat. On a walk we saw a moorhen, which was a new bird to us, and as we were walking back we saw a heron. We stood and watched him as he just stood there in the waiting for his lunch.

I didn't have a challenge for May. I have decided that the challenge for June is to organise and declutter the house. That works with the goal of less stuff. I am finding that it seems that I am spending quite a bit of time cleaning or putting things away so the goal is to get things cleaned so I don't have to keep doing that. We have a bit of a competition going to see who can get rid of the most pounds of stuff. That was my way of getting the kids involved.

We didn't take a hike this month unless you call our outings hikes.

As I review the list of goals for 2016, I am making progress on most of those areas.

Now I am going to go through my unfinished project box and see what I can finish.

Beth