You’ve all heard it…”the best laid plans”…blah, blah, blah
Sorta of what happened with my April which blew by me with our new, not necessarily improved, weekly schedule. Perhaps I can lay it at the feet of the “Y” schedule we’ve adopted. I mentioned last month joining the recreational facility and discovering all kinds of exercise (and social) opportunities, many for us seniors.
Suffice to say, we’ve settled into a “senior (exercise) circuit” (Tuesday), machine circuit and indoor cycling (for me), rowing (for the CE) on Wednesday, and Tai Chi on Thursday. (There are also yoga classes, but in studying the benefits of both, decided that the former was the better choice for our age and goals (balance, whole body). With traveling there and back and incurring ravenous appetites, the remaining available time on those days is limited.
Needless to say, no spring cleaning started, no veggie or flower starts.
Okay, new spring plans: I’ve decided to take a blogging sabbatical. I’ve talked about decreasing the number of posts, either it hasn’t happened or didn’t make a significant difference to my schedule. Blogging does appear to be a full-time job—and I’ve retired twice already. So…
Beginning May 11, I’ll be concentrating on home projects, including said spring cleaning and gardens until May 22. May 14 will mark my first attendance to the “Y” Book Club. National Rescue Dog Day occurs on May 20th and I hope to acknowledge Punkin that day. May 8th marks nineteen months with us.
Guess I pretty much stuck to status quo as we read and reviewed twelve books in April.
Of the twelve, six were audiobooks. I got into gothic horror and magical paranormal in April, sampled new authors (to me) as well as favorites and discovered two new K-9 series, both of which I enjoyed, one I’ll continue.
I source many titles through my library, a few in NetGalley, as well as author and publisher requests. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.
Open Season by Jonathan Kellerman (audiobook)
Murder in Galway by Carlene O’Connor (CE review-#begorrathon25)
Watchers by Dean Koontz (5*)
The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke (audiobook)
The Cartagena Cartel by T C Roberts (CE review)
A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves
Accidental Magic by Iris Beaglehole (audiobook)
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths (audiobook)
Chasing Justice by Kathleen Donnelly
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue (audiobook)
Breaking Creed by Alex Kava (audiobook)
Hunting the Truth by Kathleen Donnelly
One five-star review for April? Hard to believe, especially since the CE read and reviewed two. Still, even with just a few little credibility problems, I have to name Watchers as my favorite for the month. Hey, it’s a story about a dog. Not just any dog. This is a special—very, very special, lab dog. Could mean Labrador, but in this case (remember who is the author), the dog named Einstein is a laboratory dog. Okay, I’m easily entertained, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great characters, both human and canine. Fast-paced, hard to put down. It’s an old one but a good one.
Favorite for April – Watchers by Dean Koontz
My Reading Challenges page…Okay, don’t faint. I’ve caught up the Reading Challenges page. Dang, I’m proud of myself! And I really hope you’ll check it out if for no other reason than to note my latest counts.
But here’s a conundrum: My Goodreads landing page shows the 2025 Reading Challenge at 63 books completed of the goal of 150 (changed up from 125). But when I go to copy the latest widget HTML to update my blog, it notes a count of 53. Ten difference? How did that happen?
Welcome to my new subscribers! I hope you found a book or two that appealed to you and I always appreciate suggestions! Have a beautiful May!
©2025 V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 
Doesn’t it feel great to take care of yourself, Virginia? I hope you are able to continue your new schedule. My Goodreads page says that I have read 489 books. 🤣🤣 Because I read on various devices (phone, tablet and kindle) it often lists the same book two or even three times. When I try to delete one of them, it deletes them all. I give up on the Goodreads Challenge being accurate at all. I hope you enjoy May and get some of those tasks you want to finish completed.
thank you, Carla. i’m generally a list person and have been putting together a few in my head, but really, i just hope to take it one room at a time–realistic or not. there’s also the three “gardens”. the veggie garden is the main one. i’ll be getting some plants this weekend, stopped trying to start seeds. so yeah, the gym has been wearing us out (the machines actually reassessed our progress today and had us do a new “test”), so not sure of progress on those days. still the same weight tho–groan.
also, thank you re comment on Goodreads. i always assume it is something i did-or didn’t do. i am so behind on technology. anyway, i feel better now, thanks.
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Good lists ☺️ well shared
thank you
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Enjoy your break Virginia, blogging can start to feel like work after a while. I seem to spend as much time at a keyboard now I’m retired as when I was working. Spring cleaning is also on my radar – at some stage! Exercise is always good though. I have an indoor cycle at home and use my cycling time to read which works for me.
yes! good. i have a treadmill and got those trail videos (30 mins) to watch while i walked. i do that more in winter and am not very disciplined with keeping a schedule. and you’re right, the CE swears i spend 8 hrs a day on the keyboard which, of course, doesn’t compute when you know i’m also cleaning house, doing laundry, preparing and cleaning up after two meals a day, shopping and doing yard work. have to admit tho, sometimes it feels like it and it’s time to take a break. i probably shouldn’t have taken on Amazon Vine, also, as it tends to take more time than i expected.
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I hope you can manage to maintain the schedule you decide for your blog. Even though I post three times a week it feels like there is always something to do with blog. Wish you have a great May
i hope so too, Yesha. I went from 4x/week to three, and three still feels like more than i can manage. i hope you have a great May too–maybe a little down time for you as well?
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