High Summer Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up

by Carol3 Comments
Thanks Michelle for a great read-a-thon! This week I read Elvis Sightings by Ricardo Sanchez from beginning to end, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also (finally) finished listening to Natchez Burning by Greg Iles. I'll post a review later this week, but I'm not convinced it was worth the 35 hours I spent listening to it over the last month or two. I also read one short folk-tale, "The Ghost at Fjelkinge." If you're interested in any of Michelle's seasonal read-a-thons, head over to her blog Seasons of Reading....
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Thursday’s Tale: The Ghost at Fjelkinge

by Carol1 Comment
I'm sticking with tales featuring women again this week. "The Ghost at Fjelkinge" is a story from Sweden that features a brave, wealthy woman. It was told by Claire Boose in Scandinavian Folk and Fairy Tales, published in 1984, but I read it in Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters edited by Kathleen Ragan. Madame Margaretta Barkenow was a widow who owned many of the best estates in Skåne at the southernmost tip of Sweden in the early seventeenth century. She was a good manager, intelligent, energetic, and she took good care of her dependents. One evening, as Margaretta was journeying through her estates, she stopped to stay at Fjelkinge's inn and insisted on sleeping in the "ghost's room." It was said that a traveler had been murdered there a few years before and his ghost supposedly appeared nightly in that room. Most people refused to stay at that inn, let alone in that room, but I can just picture Margaretta...
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High Summer Read-a-Thon

by Carol2 Comments
The High Summer Read-a-thon officially started yesterday, but did absolutely no reading yesterday. Michelle from True Book Addict is our wonderful hostess at her blog Seasons of Reading. It runs through the 26th. You can learn more about the readathon here. I don't really have any "goals" for the week, and I'm not sure how much reading time I'll actually have. Happily, it's a low-pressure read-a-thon. I'm just going to keep track of time I spend reading and what I'm reading by updating this post. Tuesday: 60 minutes - Reading Elvis Sightings by Ricardo Sanchez (0 - 27%) 3hrs 20 mins - Listening to Natchez Burning by Greg Iles Wednesday: 45 minutes - Reading Elvis Sightings - 27% - 45% 1 hr 25 mins- Listening to  Natchez Burning Thursday is when I stopped keeping good track so times here on out are approximate: 2 pages in Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters edited by Kathleen Ragan- "The Ghost at Fjelkinge" 2 hrs - Finished Elvis Sightings 2 hrs - Listening to  Natchez Burning Saturday 1 hr - Listening to  Natchez...
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Readers’ Workouts – 7/21/15

by Carol4 Comments
So, here are my steps for the week. Not my best week, but it's finally sunny and warm and I'm loving it. I would have made Sunday's goal, but I was afraid to wear my fitbit in the pool. Thursday and Friday were double-header softball games for my husband, which means I spent the evenings mostly sitting and watching and then eating ice cream afterward. I'm giving up on any kind of plan for now. I'm just too busy to stick with it. Mid-July, it should settle down a bit. My goal is to get in at least 8,000 steps a day, 50 crunches and 10 (girly) push-ups. The rest'll just be icing. My week: Tuesday - 50 crunches, 10 push-ups Wednesday - ½ mile walk with the dog Friday - 50 crunches, 15 push-ups, 10 lunges Sunday - 30 minutes swimming, 50 crunches, 10 push-ups Monday - 1½ hours of yard work, 50 crunches, 15 push-ups , 10 lunges, and 10 knee drops I'm down 11.2 lbs from...
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