Definitely going to be a wet and wild April with lingering thunderstorms from March—a crazy pattern with warm temps to 70s plunging 40 degrees in a few hours. Normally, I’d be starting seedlings, thinking garden, planning appropriate veggies and symbiotic flowers.
First goal: Take down that poor tree in front of our kitchen window that only had one viable limb left. The CE surprised me by getting a big jump on it before I was even dressed and by mid-afternoon we had it down, limbs in the garbage bin, area raked and swept. What a job! I’m hoping it will be a good spot for some water plants. I tried lotus flowers last year, but failed to provide sufficient sun. This may be too much sun. We’ll see.
March is birthday month for me and I was celebrated with a visit from our daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandkids. The little ones are so much bigger than last we saw them, the youngest still a baby. They got to have a tour of Chicago from our son who works there, a short and sweet visit, but so happy to see them all.
Of course, we also celebrate Reading Ireland Month in March and I participated once again, experiencing a recommendable movie, a wacky newly released series, as well as ebooks and audiobooks. We made our usual corned beef and cabbage (better this year), which also made delicious leftovers—the CE’s fav.
The CE and I read or listened to a total of ten books in March. As always, the major source of our books is the library (audiobooks and ebooks). (We also review books from NetGalley and author and publisher requests.) The links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.
Singing Bones by S G Ullman (CE review-publisher request)
Countdown by Sara Driscoll
The Burning Soul by John Connolly (CE review)
Murder in an Irish Churchyard by Carlene O’Connor
Audiobooks
See How They Hide by Allison Brennan (mini-reviews)
My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney (mini-review)
Thirst Trap by Gráinne O’Hare
The Compound by Aisling Rawle
To the Moon and Back by Karen Kingsbury
The Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Can I cheat just a bit and nominate a movie instead of a book? What if the movie was based on a book–written by Declan Power? The Siege of Jadotville was compelling and powerful.
Favorite for March – The Siege of Jadotville
My Reading Challenges page…March was just too busy to update. My Goodreads count is still off, but landing page shows 40 of a challenge of 175.
To all my dear readers and fellow bloggers, thank you so much for taking the time to check out my posts and reviews. I’m trying to up my bloghopping and hope to see you soon.
©2026 V Williams
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.
One hundred gallons is a LOT of water and quickly overwhelmed the overflow at the top. So I reconfigured the base and siphoned the water out in anticipation of another gully washer. It’s going a long way to watering the veggie and flower bed as well as the potted plants on the deck and the deck plants are looking very happy. 
We used to have dry periods, not this year though. This year, we’ve not just had rain, we’ve had some serious major storms, and looking ahead, August is promising some douzies. We are still cleaning up a couple trees that came down in the fairy garden.
Update on Punkin the Pom: that little stinker is still a challenge now at almost ten months with us. Looks like progress with housetraining, then we regress. She continues to bond with the CE but must still equate me with the dragon that forced her to have another litter. Now she’ll occasionally initiate a walk, running outside then plopping butt down to have the leash attached. (That doesn’t mean a successful potty walk, however.) I have found a new treat she’ll accept (that’s two!) and she is beginning to spend some “social” time near the CE (play time, however, was apparently something she never had nor a clue how to jump up on a couch).
I managed to bake a successful loaf of bread from my third sourdough starter—long story there that includes an attack by a demon squirrel on the starter left on the deck to slow rising—and the separation of 20 grams I’d saved in the fridge for use later. Turned out, later was the next day, but it turned out wonderful, great texture, light and airy, flavorful. Thrilled but now wonder if I could have siphoned off ten grams to save and ten to use.
For those following Punkin the Pom, we are still one step forward, two back. This poor little thing…only Heaven (and the breeder) knows her history. Hoping she is gradually gaining a little trust in us while trying ever so subtly now to push her boundaries a bit as she still spends most of her days safely ensconced in her crate (almost seven months now). We took her to a groomer who cut all her guard hair off down to her undercoat. I told her I didn’t want it that short, but she now looks like a little puff ball.
Rosepoint Publishing 