
March was a big one around here—with the birth of a new great-granddaughter on March 7 and my birthday—a big one. Age changes perceptions, but it’s both encouraging and getting scary.
March is also a month of weather extremes; snow one day and warm enough to ride a bike the next. I’ve learned the hard way that I can’t start my garden until late April, so that’s a ways off yet but beginning to think I might be able to clean and prepare the deck. Living in the Rust Belt is a whole new experience.
Of course, around here, we also celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and for the last several years have participated in #ReadingIrelandMonth, so jumped on board with that as well. We read or listened to thirteen books in March, six of which were dedicated to #begorrathon23, and as many NetGalley books as audiobooks with some oldie but goodies as well. (Links below are to my reviews that include purchase info.)

The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson (audiobook-bookclub selection)
The Strange Courtship of Kathleen O’Dwyer by Robert Temple (CE review for #begorrathon23)
Molasses Murder in a Nutshell by Frances McNamara
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (audiobook)
Retribution by Robert McCaw (CE review)
The Sea by John Banville (#begorrathon23)
Desert Star by Michael Connelly (audiobook-#begorrathon23)
Cold Light of Day by Elizabeth Goddard (CE review)
A Week in Summer (audiobook-#begorrathon23)
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (audiobook-#begorrathon23)
Operation Storm King by Elliott Sumers (CE review)
The Donut Legion by Joe R Lansdale
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (audiobook-#begorrathon23)
Have you read any of the above? We narrowed the scope of genres last month but still included historical fiction, thrillers, fantasy, crime, and even a touch of horror (John Connolly).

Hands down—no contest. I’m a consummate fan of Kate Quinn—my second book The Rose Code as spell-binding as The Huntress, interested me so much I continued to research Bletchley Park after reading her Epilogue. So that is the March choice for Book of the Month.

I didn’t have a lot of time to do blog hopping in February, but I did catch several of my favorites, including those from Yesha at Books Teacups and Reviews. I particularly enjoy her personality which not only shines through on her blog posts but her stories on Instagram as well. If you haven’t already, check out her blog and follow her. She’ll lighten your day.

My Reading Challenges page… I have 38 books of a goal of 145 in Goodreads (three books ahead of schedule) and keep a 97% feedback ratio in NetGalley. Lagging behind on the others but hope to have it caught up shortly.
For us, March spells participation in Reading Ireland Month 2023 and just loved Cathy’s post on March 31 regarding the eventful month for Irish literature. If you haven’t had a chance to read that, I’d urge you to enjoy her list of Irish lit accomplishments along with her humorous comment regarding Wild Mountain Thyme—somewhat of a “cult classic”. (Yeah, Christopher Walken has been seriously miscast in more than one film!) I love participating in this challenge and also posted a poem from my grandfather—which would totally confirm his story of kissing the Blarney Stone (maybe more than once?). I also included a post regarding one of our more inglorious St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations–here—in case you missed it.
Once again, thank you sooo much for reading and commenting on my posts. I always appreciate the participation!
©2023 V Williams









I wrote last month about the storm that reached alarming -0 temps. I worried about Frosty and her little ears and feet and supplied a handkerchief for her ears and booties for her paws. Unfortunately, she contracted pneumonia and we lost her on her 17th birthday, breaking my heart. While I know it was a virus and not the temps, it’s still very difficult to reconcile and will take a while to ease the crush on my heart.




Despite the winter chill, the CE and I managed to get out for a couple walks and one or two additional short rides (around the block) before the bikes had to be left to cool in the garage for the winter. The frigid storm that hit near Christmas dropped outside temps to -0F with a wind chill factor of -34F, which alarmed me sufficiently that I felt I needed to protect Frosty’s little ears and put booties on her little paws for potty time. The CE is always very good at shoveling a small path for her as it’s too difficult to try and keep little booties on her paws in several inches of snow.




My usual battle with trying to catch up the challenges. Lost the battle again, but you’ll see—I’ll eventually catch it up and win the war. My challenges for 2022 are all listed and linked in the widget column on the right. Please check out their progress by clicking the
But speaking of getting older; our little Bichon Frisé, Frosty, will have her seventeenth birthday in January 2023. I’m not sure she’ll make that as she is declining before our eyes. Breaks our hearts and we watch her every day for signs she is suffering. So far, so good; eating and drinking her water, getting me up one to three times during the night to piddle. Maybe it’s not the books and blog that have me exhausted, but we love her too much to give up quite yet.










Now the new thing in July is “fermenting.” Got a couple lids and started on sauerkraut, but blew it by not exercising more patience. Then I got a gallon size glass bottle with a special fermenting lid (see that lid? It will exhaust but not allow oxygen back in) and trying that with carrots and cucumbers. Gotta be patient with this one and let it go at least thirty days. It’s been a week today…You can see why I might do more reading in the winter.
