November is here and I'm loving the fall tree colors...and reading...

 

Hello book friends!  Just checking in here to say that I'm enjoying November in our new location so far.  My walks have gotten quite a bit cooler for the most part, but the fall tree colors are so much more vivid in this area than where we lived before.  There are some fall leaves in Austin, but most of the trees that we had were live oaks and they are not pretty in the fall.  They turn brown in the winter and the leaves fall off.  Not very fun.  Ha!  I took the picture above yesterday.  Love it!  It's amazing how you move only a couple of hours west and there you go - beauty in the fall.

As I said, it's quite a bit cooler in the early mornings and I've been considering tweaking my walking time or location a bit.  We'll see how it goes.  I could walk at our local mall, but they don't open until 8:30.  Or I guess I could wear a coat - ha!  Or walk in the afternoons.  We shall see.  Late morning seems to be the time that the temps moderate, but I'm usually a bit busy then.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  We're planning on going to Austin and sharing that meal with our daughter and son-in-law.  They are cooking and have told us we don't have to bring a thing.  How fun!  It will just be the 4 of us and their 2 pups, but we'll enjoy it a lot.  We may see a few other family members on that Friday, but we'll see how it goes. 

We met with a couple of contractors and are slowly moving forward with the renovations we're planning for our house.  It will likely be spring before any work can start, but it's good to get some estimates and also to start doing some selections of materials.  In other news, my husband and I both have had our booster shots and we're good to go there.   

My volunteering and reading go on as usual.  I've finished 5 books so far this month and have listed them below.  I'm not really feeling the 'review' vibe right now, so just know that if I finished the book, I enjoyed it.  I did put down a couple of books that weren't working for me.  I'm going to the Talking Texas Book Club later today and will enjoy that meeting I'm sure.  I didn't read the book - it was Lonesome Dove - but I always enjoy hearing what others have to share.  The library here is considering starting two more book groups or so I've heard.  One is a mystery group (YAY!) and one will be historical fiction.  Think I can handle a book group a week?  Possibly.  Here's my books read list and I'll try to stop by next week to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!  Let me know if you've read any of these books and what you thought.  Take care!

1. One Fatal Flaw - Anne Perry - 3rd in the Daniel Pitt series

2. Playing Nice - J.P. Delaney - domestic suspense about two families dealing with an infant-switch situation

3. Red Widow - Alma Katsu - spy thriller written by an author who was a CIA analyst for over 30 years

4. Death With A Double Edge - Anne Perry - 4th in the Daniel Pitt series

5. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig - read for a January book group - quite interesting and thought-provoking themes - for me anyway - look forward to the discussion